Justice at Cardwell Ranch

by BJ Daniels

  “Touch me again and I’ll deck you,” Brittany said as she jerked free of the woman’s hold. “I don’t do yoga every day like you, but I do haul around three kids so I’m betting I’m a lot stronger and tougher than you are. I’m also not afraid of you anymore.”

  “Well, you should be.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Brittany demanded as she advanced on her. “This isn’t high school, Shelby. Your reign is over.” She turned and went into a stall.

  Shelby stood as if frozen on the spot, her face white with fury as Liza stepped into the ladies’ room. Seeing the deputy marshal, Shelby quickly spun around and twisted the handle on the faucet, hiding her face as she washed her hands.

  Liza went into the first stall. She heard Brittany flush, exit the next stall and go to the washbasin. Through the sound of running water, she heard Shelby hiss something.

  “Whatever, Shelby.” Brittany left, but a moment later someone else came in.

  “Aren’t you talking to me? What’s going on?” Tessa whined, sounding like a child. “Are you mad at me? I don’t understand. I haven’t done anything.”

  She was sure Shelby was probably trying to signal that they weren’t alone, but Tessa was clearly upset and apparently not paying attention.

  “I told you I wouldn’t say anything. You know you can trust me. So why are you—”

  “Tessa, this really isn’t the place,” Shelby snapped.

  “But all evening you’ve—”

  Liza had no choice but to flush. As she opened the stall door, both Tessa and Shelby glanced in her direction. “Ladies,” she said as she moved to the sinks and turned on the water.

  “I could use some fresh air,” Shelby said. “Come outside with me for a minute.” She smiled as she took Tessa’s arm and practically dragged her out of the bathroom.

  Liza washed her hands, dried them and then stepped out. She could see Shelby and Tessa on the large deck in what was obviously a heated discussion. She watched them for a moment, wishing she could hear their conversation, but having no way to do that went back to the table and Jordan.

  “Everything okay?” he asked quietly.

  She smiled at him. “Great.”

  “I love your dress,” Brittany said.

  Liza laughed. “That’s right. You like polka dots. I remember your apron.” Liza liked Brittany. She could see why Jordan had had a crush on her in high school. Probably still did.

  With dinner over, everyone began to wander away from the table and back into the first room where the music was again playing.

  Liza pulled Jordan aside and told him what she’d overheard.

  “So basically you just wanted to let me know I was right about Tessa,” Jordan said, grinning.

  “Apparently, you can be right once in a while, yes.” She smiled back at him, realizing he was flirting with her again and she didn’t mind it.

  A few moments later Shelby came back in from the deck. She put her game face on again and breezed by them, already dancing to the music before she reached the dance floor. But she didn’t fool Liza. Shelby was trying hard to hide whatever was really going on with her and Tessa.

  “I’m going to talk to Tessa,” Liza said. “Save me a dance.”

  * * *

  AS JORDAN LEFT THE DINING ROOM and joined the others, he spotted Shelby talking to her other two cohorts. Ashley and Whitney could have been sisters. They were both brunettes, both shapely, both pretty—at least from a distance. He knew his perception of them had been poisoned a long time ago.

  He liked to think all of them had changed, himself included. But he could tell by the way Ashley and Whitney were listening to Shelby that they still followed her as blindly as they had in high school. It made him sad. Brittany had grown up, made a life for herself and seen through Shelby. But apparently Brittany was the only one who’d made the break from Shelby’s control.

  “Jordan, do you have a minute?”

  He turned to find Paul Henderson, Ashley’s husband. Paul had been two years ahead of them in school. “Sure,” he said as Paul motioned to the empty lobby of the lodge.

  “I hope I’m not speaking out of school here,” Paul said. “But there’s a rumor going around that Alex was asking about Tanner before he was…killed. I figured if you really were with him at the falls, then he must have talked to you.”

  “We didn’t get a chance to talk,” Jordan said, wondering if Paul had any information or if he was just fishing.

  “Oh.” He looked crestfallen.

  “You talked to him?”

  Paul nodded and met Jordan’s gaze. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell the deputy marshal.”

  “What did Alex tell you?”

  He hesitated for a moment, then said, “Alex asked me if I remembered the party Tanner had that night at the cabin, the night the equipment was vandalized?”

  Jordan nodded. He vaguely remembered the party. He’d drunk too much and, after his fight with Tessa, had left early with some girl from Bozeman who he couldn’t even remember. “Were you there?”

  “No. I was grounded from the past weekend. He was asking if I knew where Shelby was that night.”

  “Shelby?”

  “He wanted to know if Ashley had been with her.”

  “And was she?”

  “That’s just it. I told Alex that I thought she was because she called a little after two in the morning. She’d been drinking. We argued and I hung up. The next day when I asked her where she’d been the night before, she swore she didn’t go to the party. But Alex said something about some photos from the party that night that proved not only were Ashley and Whitney there, but Shelby and Tessa were, too.”

  “Why was he interested in photos of the party?” Jordan asked.

  Paul shrugged. “That’s just it. I can’t imagine what some photographs of a high school kegger twenty years ago could have to do with anything. That’s why I haven’t said anything to the deputy marshal.”

  “Did you ask Ashley about them?”

  “She still swears she wasn’t at the party that night, but…” He looked away for a moment. “I’d like to see those photos. Alex seemed to think there was something in them that could explain why Tanner is dead.”

  “I’ll mention it to the deputy marshal,” Jordan said. “She might want to talk to you.”

  Paul looked relieved. “I didn’t know if I should say anything, but I’m glad I did. Okay, back to the party huh?” He didn’t look as if he was enjoying the reunion any more than Jordan had enjoyed dinner.

  The only thing that kept Jordan from calling it quits was the thought of another dance with Liza.

  * * *

  TESSA STOOD AT THE DECK railing, her back to the lodge. She looked cold and miserable and from the redness around her eyes, she’d been crying.

  Liza joined her at the railing. “Shelby’s trying to bring you back under control, you know.”

  Tessa glanced over at her and let out a laugh. “I’d pretend I didn’t know what you were talking about, but what would be the use?”

  “Talk to me, Tessa. Tell me what Shelby is so terrified I’ll find out?”

  Tessa hugged herself and looked away. A breeze whispered in the nearby pines. Earlier it had been warm. Now though, the air had cooled. It carried the promise of winter. Closer, Liza could hear the muted music from inside the lodge. The party was resuming. She was betting that Shelby wouldn’t leave Tessa out here long. If Liza didn’t get the truth out of her quickly—

  A door opened behind them. “Tessa?” Whitney called from the open doorway. “Shelby needs your help with the awards.”

  “I’ll be right there,” she said over her shoulder and started to turn toward the lodge.

  “Tessa,” Liza said, feeling her chance slipping through her fingers. She was genuinely afraid for Tessa. For some reason, the woman had been cut from the herd. Liza feared for the woman’s life.

  “Let me think about things. Maybe I’ll stop by your office Monday.”


  Liza nodded. The one thing she’d learned was when to back off. “I can help you.”

  Tessa laughed at that and looked toward the lodge. “I’m not sure anyone can help me,” she said and pushed off the railing to go back inside.

  Liza bit down on her frustration. Tessa needed her best friend’s approval. But surely she was tired of playing Shelby’s game.

  Telling herself this night hadn’t been a total waste, Liza waited for a few moments before going back inside. The moment she saw Jordan, she thought, no, this night had definitely not been a waste.

  He stood silhouetted in the doorway, reminding her that she’d come with the most handsome man at the party. Suspect or not, Jordan Cardwell was a pretty good date, she thought as he drew her into his arms and out on the dance floor.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Shelby had Tessa in the corner. Liza meet Tessa’s gaze for a moment before the woman shoved away from Shelby and dragged Wyatt Iverson out on the floor to dance with her.

  “You might want to talk to Paul Henderson,” Jordan said, as they were leaving the reunion party a few dances later. “Apparently, Alex asked him about the party at the cabin that night. Alex thought there were photographs taken at the party that might have something to do with Tanner’s death.”

  “Photographs?” Liza asked. She’d settled into the SUV’s passenger seat, still feeling the warmth of being in Jordan’s arms on the dance floor. She’d had fun even though she hated to admit it since she was supposed to be finding a murderer.

  “Paul wasn’t at Tanner’s kegger, but he seems to think Ashley might have gone and lied about it.”

  “And how does all of this lead to Alex’s death?” she asked, wanting to hear Jordan’s take on it.

  “Tanner was staying in a cabin up on the mountain to keep an eye on Iverson Construction equipment,” he said as he drove. “He throws a party, the equipment gets vandalized, he gets in trouble. Malcolm Iverson, who is on the edge of bankruptcy, believes his competitor Harris Lancaster is behind the vandalism in an attempt to take over his business. Malcolm goes gunning for him, shoots Harris accidentally and goes to prison for a couple of years. When he gets out, he drowns in a boating accident.” He looked over at her. “These things have to be connected and if there really are photographs from Tanner’s party, then maybe they tie it all together—and explain why Tanner is dead.”

  “Tanner sounds like such a sensible kid,” Liza said. “Why would he throw a party at the cabin with the construction equipment nearby?”

  “He swore he didn’t. People just started showing up. So he went with it. But after the equipment was vandalized, he felt horrible about it.” He shrugged as he drove down the mountain. “I know he blamed himself.”

  “Was Tanner drinking a lot that night?”

  Jordan sighed. “I don’t know. I got drunk and left with some girl.”

  “So if these photographs exist, then they might not just show who was there and with whom, the photographer might have captured the vandalism on film.”

  “That’s what I was thinking, and if Ashley’s father, Harris Lancaster, was behind it, he would have good reason not to want the photographs to surface and so would Ashley.”

  Liza thought of the suicide scene photos in Tanner’s file, the campfire ringed with rocks, the charred beer cans, all the tracks at the scene. “If Harris was questioned about the vandalism, there should be something down at the office in the file.”

  “Both Malcolm Iverson and Harris Lancaster are the kind of men who would have taken the law into their own hands,” Jordan said. “And so are their sons. I doubt either of them reported anything.”

  “I think I should talk to Harris Lancaster,” Liza said.

  “Let me go along. Just to make sure you’re safe. Truth is, Lancaster is the kind of man who won’t take a female deputy seriously. No offense.”

  “Oh, none taken,” she said sarcastically. “But you’ve done enough, thanks. So what do you have planned tomorrow?”

  He’d grinned over at her. “Worried about me?”

  “Tell me I don’t have any reason to be.”

  “Look, I’m touched but—”

  “It isn’t personal, so save it,” she said quickly. “I have one murder on my hands, maybe two. I don’t need you adding another one for me to solve.”

  “Don’t worry, Deputy. I have no intention of getting myself killed. I’ll watch my back. You do the same.”

  She nodded. “I’m driving up to West Yellowstone to see Brick Savage. He was the investigating marshal on Tanner’s death.”

  “I need to go see my sister. But maybe I’ll see you later tomorrow? How about dinner?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I get it. You’re afraid that over dinner I might charm you into thinking I’m harmless, if you weren’t careful.”

  “You aren’t that charming and you’re far from harmless.”

  He grinned at that. “I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

  “I was sure you would.”

  As he drove toward her condo, he said, “Seriously, watch your back tomorrow.”

  * * *

  WHEN THEY REACHED LIZA’S CONDO, Jordan insisted on walking her to her door.

  “This really isn’t necessary,” she said, shaking her head at him as she dug for her key. He saw the glint of her weapon in her purse along with her badge. For a while on the dance floor, he’d forgotten she was a deputy marshal. She was merely a beautiful woman in his arms.

  “A gentleman always walks his date to the door.”

  “This isn’t a date.”

  “Because I’m a suspect?”

  She looked up from searching in her purse for her key. He’d noticed that she’d suddenly become ill at ease when he’d driven up in front of her condo. Now she froze as he moved closer until they were a breath apart.

  “Do you really think I’m dangerous?” he asked.

  Her laugh sounded nervous. “Absolutely.”

  “Well, date or not, I had fun with you,” he whispered and kissed her gently. She still hadn’t moved when he drew back to look into her beautiful green eyes.

  He knew he should leave it at one quick kiss, turn and walk away, but there was something so alluring about her that he gripped her waist and pulled her to him. This time he kissed her like he’d wanted to since the day he’d seen her sitting astride her horse, watching him from the darkness of the trees. There’d been something mysterious and sensual about her even when he’d realized who she was.

  Now she melted into him, her hands going to his shoulders, her lips parting, a soft moan escaping from deep within her.

  He felt his own desire spark and catch flame. It had been so long since he’d felt like this, if he ever had before. Liza was slight in stature, but had curves in all the right places. There was something solid and real about her. He couldn’t help thinking how different she was from his ex, Jill. Jill ate like a bird. If she’d consumed even a portion of the food Liza’d had tonight at the dinner, she’d be anxious to get inside the condo and throw it all up. He’d gotten so sick of her constant dieting and complaining about the way she looked.

  Liza was so different from any woman he’d ever known. She knew who she was and what she wanted. She looked perfect as she was, felt perfect. He wanted to sweep her into his arms, take her inside and make love to her until daylight.

  * * *

  AT THE SOUND OF A VEHICLE coming up the street, Liza pushed back from the kiss as if coming up for air. She was breathing hard, her heart pounding, desire making her blood run hot.

  As a white SUV slowly drove past, she saw the woman behind the wheel and swore.

  “Shelby,” she said, mentally kicking herself for not only letting this happen but also wanting it to.

  Jordan turned to watch the vehicle disappear down the street. “Sorry.”

  It was bad enough that a lot of people didn’t think a woman could do this job. She’
d only made it worse by letting someone like Shelby see her kissing Jordan Cardwell.

  “I should never have gone to the reunion dinner with you,” she said.

  “You were working.”

  “That kiss wasn’t work.”

  “No,” he said and grinned at her.

  “Go home,” she said.

  He raised both hands and took a step back. “You want to pick me up at the cabins or should I meet you tomorrow to—”

  “I already told you. I can handle this without your help.”

  He stopped. “Liza, I’m not giving up until Alex’s killer is caught.”

  “It’s too dangerous.”

  He studied her for a moment. “Too dangerous for who?” he asked, stepping to her again. He cupped the side of her face with one of his large hands. She was surprised to feel the calluses. Taking his hand, she held it to the light.

  “I thought you worked on Wall Street?” she asked, hating the suspicion she heard in her voice. Worse, that Jordan had heard it.

  “I used to. I quit. I’ve been working construction for a few years now.”

  “Do you even live in New York City?”

  He shook his head. “Why are you getting so upset?”

  “Because I’ve run background checks on everyone involved in this case—except you.”

  “Because you know I didn’t kill Alex.”

  “Do I?” She glared at him, although it was herself she was angry with.

  He held up his hands again. “I’m sorry if one little kiss—”

  “It wasn’t one little kiss,” she snapped and closed her eyes as she realized what she’d said. The kiss had shaken her. Worse, it had sparked a desire in her for this man, of all men.

  “Run your background check. Do whatever it is you have to do,” he said as he took a step away. “I have nothing to hide. But know this. That wasn’t just some little kiss for me, either. If I had my way, I’d have you inside that condo and I’d be taking off your clothes right now. Good night, Deputy Marshal. I had a nice time. You make a nice date.”

  With that, he turned and walked to his vehicle while she stood trembling on the condo stoop thinking about what he’d said. Imagining the two of them tearing at each other’s clothing. She knew that if he had taken her inside, they would have never made it to the bedroom.